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What frustrates me the most about many of the reports in the media lately is that they refer to the Atkins diet as "one of those fad diets that are so popular these days". Then they go on to give the usual misinformation about how eating steak will give you a heart attack and you won't get enough vitamins and minerals because Atkins won't let you eat vegetables, and blah, blah, blah...

It's as if Dr. Atkins were trying to convert a nation of people that are eating a wide variety of nutritous vegetables and low-fat protien at every meal. In reality the average American eats so much fast food, cookies, ice cream, Fruit Loops & Coca-cola it is no wonder we are the fattest people on earth. But NEVER do the mention the word SUGAR!!!!

They critisize the Akins diet like they want to save us from eternal hell and damnation, but it is perfectly fine to feed your children cake and ice cream with a glass of Hawiian Punch. But don't eat a steak, that will kill you.

The media loves to warn us about how "unproven" or "dangerous" the Atkins diet is but they never mention that the alternative for most Americans is a diet loaded with sugar and empty calories.

Last night on CNN they had report that said 95% of people that lose weight on diets regain that weight with-in a year. They also trivialized Atkins as a fad diet and said to stick with a high-carb, low fat diet. Never did they mention sugar or insulin resistance. By the end of the show I am sure many people were left with the feeling of "What's the point fo dieting, I must be one of the 95% meant to be fat".

I have found what so many other people at this forum have found. since I have gone LC I am in control of my apetite for the first time in my life. I have more energy and I feel much healthier. All these years I have been beating myself up because I couldn't stop eating even though I wasn't hungry. LC has not only made me feel better physically but I also have gained a lot of self-respect.[COLOR=Black]

Right on, brother

Yeah, its funny that cutting out carbs will kill you, but cutting out fat completely and substituting in highly refined carbs will have no health impact...

brobin

They are in love with the carbs=energy equation. Why did my high carb lunch used to make me want to take a nap?
I know I'm not the only one.

To Adkpam - right on the money! I suffered badly from drowseyness after lunch in business. It was terrible. We would be at a meeting with the CEO and have lunch served. There I was with my sugar sweetened Lipton iced tea (Always with me as a trademark) - eating the sandwich with bread and potato chips. Then about 1/2 to 1 hour later I could hardley keep my eyes open. Meanwhile the VP being groomed for President was always carefull what he ate and I noticed he never ate desert. So as I am swimming in sleepiness he gives a speech so clear headed I could not figure out how he did it. I realized then there was something wrong with me. After the meeting next day my boss took me aside and scolded me for being drowsey and said the CEO was looking right at me when I was nodding my head. This was a terrible situation for my job and business.

Several years later I discovered Atkins and now working for a different company we have a weekly meeting. The owner always buys lunch the day we have a meeting and it is always pizza. Same thing was happening. The meeting would be about 1 hour after lunch and it was perfect timing for me to be sleepy. So the first week I am on Atkins I don't eat the pizza. At the meeting I am perfectly clear headed, no drowseyness at all! That was it - that was my problem - it was the sugar!

Now I am continuing with the job and the owner his wife and family me and my wife pile in a 15 seat van to drive from PA to Orlando for a trade show. Everyday I would start out driving and after lunch the owner would take over - well 1/2 hour later he would make me take the wheel again and their whole family and him would soundly sleep. One meal was funny - there was an accident up ahead and it was near lunchtime so we pulled off the nearest exit and eat at a diner (down south) Everybody orders the usual and I had my LC meal - well my meal came with a big bowl of grits - so I gave that away to the owner and his family - they are Chinese and never heard of grits. So they chowed down on the grits, french fries, bread plus had sandwiches with rolls - drank soda. I kept laughing to myself and knew they would all conk out after lunch. Well sure enough the owner has to drive first and 1/2 hour he pulls over and makes me drive. So I proceed up the road and it rains cats and dogs so bad you could hardly see. The whole family is sound asleep and just my wife and I are awake. We drive through all this teeming water on I95 going 30 miles an hour trying to stay on the road with them all asleep.

Then I went on another road trip with the owner and after two times of this - where he falls asleep after lunch - he says "gary why are you wide awake after lunch and I always fall asleep?" I told him it is the sugar! So he then started LC eating and was amazed - it cured him the same way it cured me! This guy is such an egomaniac he would never listen to me when I talked about cutting sugar down and Atkins. But when he saw in real life this example, he was convinced - it stared him in the face.

Good story, Gary. Lot's of people just have to learn from experience. Now your boss can also spread the word about low carbing.

This just an example of the truism that experts are merely people who know their own mental rut so well, that they can't or won't let anything move them. They "know" what is right and what works and can't be dissuaded by facts. The low carb revolution, like so many others is from the bottom up. It grows because the common people have found it works. The public success of low carb only pushes the all-knowing to greater efforts to stem the tide.
Medical history, even recent medical history is replete with examples of the most idiotic things being done in the name of cures. In France , from the 50's on heart disease was treated sometimes by opening the chest and sprinkling chalk dust on the heart. Many "cures" were reported. The moral is do your own research or give yourself up to those who may only be idiots. Nyah Levi

I agree. I've had to defend my diet with the folks at work as well. But you know what, as you start loosing weight, looking and feeling better......They figure it out! I always eat when I'm bored.....Well always hunger.. But on this diet, if I'm hungry, I can eat. Also, before if I didn't eat something all day, I would get light headed and very very cranky! But now my moods have regulated. You don't realize how carbs affect your blood sugar until you ditch them!

Let me preface this by saying that I love the Atkins WOL and it works true wonders... These are just my thoughts on where things are heading...

I question whether or not the Atkins WOE will become truly mainstream - and not because of these "media reports" that ignore the benefits of such a WOL.

As more and more refined and processed LC products come out, there will come a point where people will say to themselves, "Hey, I'll give [Low-Carb Plan] a try. I mean, they make all my favorite foods with low carbs." Then, they will try. And fail. People will begin consuming these products much like they consumed the Snackwell's of the early 90s (which were really gross, btw). Then when they aren't losing, or even gaining, they will question the viability of this WOL.

As each individual fails because they have failed to realize that the original point of starting a low-carb plan was and is not only getting rid of evil carboydrates, but to get back to whole, unprocessed foods, they will undoubtedly go back to the "better tasting" higher carb cousins. Thus, quitting their low-carb plan and stating that it didn't work for them. Then, these people will have the audacity to have their blood-work done and claim, "See what [Low-Carb Plan] did to me! It made my stats go through the roof!"

Yes, this is the type of stupidity and evil naiveness that will drive this WOL into the ground, or at least keep it "in it's place." What companies did to the Low-fat movement, they will now try to do to the Low-carb movement. Unfortunately, the low-fat movement has a huge following, including the US government.

I agree wholeheartedly with Nebula regarding the consumption of low carb products which are processed, contain chemicals, sugar alcohols, soy products, and other things I'm not quite sure about. When I first started low carbing I was very pleased to see an increase in low carb products being available to the consumer and started using them. Within 2 months I realized that they created stalls and cravings in me for more of these products. It dawned on me that even these low-carb products are bad for people and only whole, naturally grown and raised, unprocessed, unmedicated, foods should be used. I still can't figure out why people need bread, pancakes and muffins of any kind and are constantly trying to find low carb substitutes for those awful high carb things. Leave them behind and move on to much better things: natural, whole foods.

Even more frightening is that once the food industry jumps on the low-carb bandwagon, I shudder to think of the concoctions they will come up with (all artificial) to satisfy the low carb market. Shiver.

I agree absolutey that the convenience products will not work for those that don't actually read the book and understand what its all about.
But I see it a bit differently.
There aren't many of those products (low-carb) that I actually LIKE using :-). They aren't really all that good, and my fresh homecooked meals taste much better, and CAN be made ahead of time for lunches ect.
So I don't see people "downing" them like snakwell's ( because lets face it, eating a bag of those were all too simple) but since this is about learning how to be friends with REAL food, if you use the convenience stuff, that also will never be as good for you as real food, you just won't get the point :-)
But it won't be because people can eat alot of those!!! LOL :-)

PoofieD,

I know where you're coming from, but I'm sure you've seen on this forum that some people were consuming 3-5 low-carb bars per day and then wondering why they weren't losing weight. Same thing goes with some people over-consuming low-carb bread or other low-carb items.

Many people see the terms "low-carb" as a green light - as did their low-fat counterparts. That is why marketing works and why KFC probably had a slight increase in sales after their commercials, even though their products aren't very low-carb and contain things that are all but legally prohibited from most low-carb diets, like white flour.

If this forum is any indication of how many people in America are trying Atkins (chosen for simplicity and "popularity") without reading the book, then I would be willing to bet that many people do not read the book or have any intention of reading the book.

Let's all face another reality. The people in this forum are not a great indication of what the rest of the nation is like. I will liken this forum to other specialty forums like computer and saltwater reef-keeping forums. Those people are not the average person. They went out of their way to find a place to discuss and learn about their chosen hobbies, professions, etc... The average person doesn't do this. So while you and I may be following the plan to a "T" or using low-carb products minimally, the average person might not see it so.

Nebula is right about how this will get messed up. It's a Lowest Common Denominator thing. However, seeing carbs as a problem is a definite step in the right direction.
Judging from the low-fat situation, and how long it took companies to get going with it, I don't know how bad off the low carb eating public will be, since those whole fresh foods are always available, and I hope always will be.
Anytime large corporations get involved, it's what I call "The Chowing of America." They don't want to give us what we want, that's just a screen. They want to give us People Chow, Music Chow & Fashion Chow because it's easy for them to make and sell.
We always have to struggle to get the good stuff.

But, the question that remains is: Are people seeing that carboydrates are bad, or is that an after-effect. In other words, I believe people do Atkins, et al, to lose weight, not because they suddenly realize that carboydrates are not good for them. At least, this was the case for me and from my readings here, for others as well. Learning that carboydrates aren't necessarily a good thing, particularly refined and processed carby-foods, comes after you experience results and get passed the initial carb cravings.

Large corporations care about one thing, and one thing only - the bottom line. They are accountable to their shareholders, and if the preferred stockholders aren't getting dividends, the board may be voted out. Does Pfizer REALLY care that millions of men can now lead sexually active lives? I doubt it. Do they care that their sales increased by $4 billion? Absolutely.

I'm just glad I got in on the bottom floor and I realized that the only way to be successful in my eating habits is to eat only those things that are unprocessed and whole.

As for the low-carb eating public... well, given how popular low-fat foods are, I'm sure low-carb foods will be very popular. We are also in a different world in a consumerism sense than in the 80s and even early 90s. Corporations realize that "fad" or "popular" trends are easy to cash in on, and they are starting to jump on it faster.

LOL, Actually I have, but usually in the context of eating those instead of real food. :-)
We do have a paranoia about actually cooking and getting veggies and getting in the "I am on the run ALL the time" kind of eating.
I guess I can see it once in a while, but they still don't taste good to me.
okay, how are you three bars a day people DOING it??
This enquiring mind wants to know!